Did You Know...

posted Sep 29th, 2009 -
Many great ideas come up in situations that are not set up for that purpose.

The Dutch 4-way team that represented the Netherlands at the FAI World Cup 2009, NRG, is another example for creativity in an unusual situation.

Rogier Carper (Tail), Jaap Keuter (Center Inside), Gerhard Schut (Center Outside), Leander van Schriek (Point), with Milo Pieters on camera, had a very successful 2009 season and finished with a 14.6 average after nine rounds in the Czech Republic.

Moving beer bottles during the rain

NRG battled with several other teams for the last open slot in the Finals (Round 10) after making the cut for the Semifinals (Round 9). Only NRG's 13-pointer in the infamous Round 5, which brought great trouble to many teams as the NSL News reported on 2 September 2009, kept the Dutch team from possibly stealing the Finals slot from Finland's Pro Team.

After the meet was over for NRG, the team members provided the NSL News with some confidential information. They had used weather holds at their training camps in the Netherlands to think about the current dive pool.

In fact, the weather situation in their home country gives the Dutch teams once in a while more time to spend for other projects than they would really like to have. It is not very unusual that the weather holds eventually turn into social events, including the consumption of adult beverages.

New NRG block design

One of the rainy NRG training days this year turned out to become one of these unplanned creative sessions, and the confidential information for the NSL News included the results of a project that started during the rain.

The beer consumption that day initiated the thoughts for the project. It began with the beer bottles, which empty gradually by nature, even in the Netherlands, sometimes faster and sometimes slower, probably depending on the amount of rain. The inter from a full bottle to an empty bottle caught the NRG attention, and the team members began to move around the empty bottles in certain ways.

The idea that came up with the moving bottles was so promising that the next step was a test on the computer. NRG's creative department thought that there was great potential for the design of a new block maneuver.

The Dutch competitors, including computer expert and Dutch Skydiving League Manager Gerhard Schut, eventually finalized the project and presented the complete version of a new block to the NSL News in Prostejov.

The NRG members missed the deadline to present the new block to IPC's Formation Skydiving Committee. The NSL News reported already on 24 September 2009 that there will be no changes of the current dive pool. The Dutch designers will have to wait unitl the end of the 2010 season until they can officially present the proposal to the IPC.

There will probably be more rainy days in the Netherlands between now and then. NRG members said that they are planning to use the next sessions to follow up with a marketing plan. They think that they have realistic chances to attract the beer brewery to back up the project and sponsor the whole 4-way community with millions of Dollars, or Euros. This might increase the chances that the IPC would accept the new block in the dive pool. The NSL News will follow up as soon as the contract with the brewery is in place.